Australia brings in cashless welfare card.

Just in time for the greatest recession of all time, welfare recipients in Australia are going cashless. They are moving fast to make cash transactions over ten thousand dollars illegal. This appears to be crazy. as where this has been tried crime has gone up, but its coming whether you like it or not. This happens when corporations and government get to cozy, I wont say the F word.

Compassionate conservative=oxymoron

a reply to: anonentity

If you're on welfare, you definitely shouldn't be making cash purchases over 10,000 dollars though.

a reply to: sine.nomine

The $10000 limit is for all citizens no more cash for cars or boats

a reply to: anonentity

I made a thread recently about how splendour in the grass was cashless this year for the first time, the same people run falls festival so I will be curious to see if it also cashless.

We here in Australia are like guinea pigs, if it works here expect it to be rolled out shortly there after to larger population centres.

Why is this problematic? Nowadays people don't need to make such large transactions using cash unless they are trying to do something under the radar, like tax avoidance or laundering.

originally posted by: paraphi
Why is this problematic? Nowadays people don't need to make such large transactions using cash unless they are trying to do something under the radar, like tax avoidance or laundering.

I paid cash for my car, over that amount. Nothing under the radar.

Is cash money? Is it mine? Why is government interfering with my ability to use my money?

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
I paid cash for my car, over that amount. Nothing under the radar.

Good for you. I would never admit to paying cash to the builder to avoid tax (VAT), but it's apparenty more common than than tax avoidance by the rich and weathy.

a reply to: paraphi

You wouldn’t admit to avoiding paying VAT? Well you can hardly talk then!
Most builders aren’t even VAT registered because they don’t earn enough and if they do they don’t mind charging/paying VAT because they get to claim it back. The regular folk pay VAT on just about everything and don’t get to claim it back.

The rich use all kinds of loopholes to avoid paying tax as proven in the Panama and Paradise papers released by wikileaks. I guess that’s really why you hate Assange so much.

originally posted by: paraphi

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
I paid cash for my car, over that amount. Nothing under the radar.

Good for you. I would never admit to paying cash to the builder to avoid tax (VAT), but it's apparenty more common than than tax avoidance by the rich and weathy.

I've never in my life paid any other way for a vehicle, and even now looking at 5 yard dump trucks I'm planning to pay cash- even though that sort of equipment starts at about 20k.

Taxes are paid to the state- I don't know how they work over your way but here you pay them when you register the vehicle- every year. When you register a vehicle for the first time, they charge you sales tax- even if you bought a 20 year old car that has changed hands 20 times, they still want their sales tax.

As it stands in the US, bank transactions over 10k already draw a lot of attention. Extra paperwork gets done, more people are notified, and I'd wager they even put you on a list.

they're moving towards cashless, and it isn't for the benefit of the people. This sort of wishy washy defense for them sounds a lot like defending the NSA keeping tabs on everyone- if you're not doing anything wrong why dont you want the government keeping tabs on everything you do? If you're not breaking the laws, why wouldn't you want the government keeping track of every dime you spend?
If they manage to ban cash here, I suspect we'll start seeing a big uptick in barter... and a lot of unhappy citizens will be done hiding their dissatisfaction with the established rule of law.

originally posted by: paraphi
Why is this problematic? Nowadays people don't need to make such large transactions using cash unless they are trying to do something under the radar, like tax avoidance or laundering.

It is problematic to welfare recipient's to have this card as it stigmatizes them and outs them to the general public, this card from research apparently is to stop recipient's using welfare money to buy drugs or alcohol instead of paying rent or buying food or paying bills etc. Most recipient's are people in a temporary bad situation and don't need further anxiety from the stigma of being temporarily incapable of providing for themselves. But as usual the majority have to suffer as a result of the few.
A better solution would be random alcohol and drug testing for recipient's i believe instead.

As for the 10k limit - it's not the fact that it's 10k, it's the fact that government is sticking their nose intrusively into people's financial affairs with no right - after all we've already paid our dues to the tax man and from that point on it should undeniably be a case of p- off and mind your own buisness.

So it's a principal issue.

a reply to: lordcomac

As it stands in the US, bank transactions over 10k already draw a lot of attention.

Its the same in Australia with anything over 10,000.

Not sure about OPs claim about making transactions over 10,000 illegal though, I have heard about Parliament discussing this but never anything like its close to happening.

In the US it can be a pain to buy stuff in cash but we manage. Bought a truck with $20 k down last year and took the dealer the down payment over 3 business days to save us both a lot of paperwork.

originally posted by: mikell
In the US it can be a pain to buy stuff in cash but we manage. Bought a truck with $20 k down last year and took the dealer the down payment over 3 business days to save us both a lot of paperwork.

Cool, correct - many ways to skin a cat indeed.

originally posted by: mikell
In the US it can be a pain to buy stuff in cash but we manage. Bought a truck with $20 k down last year and took the dealer the down payment over 3 business days to save us both a lot of paperwork.

If either of you withdrew or deposited the 20k cash over three day I can pretty much guarantee one of the banks reported the transaction to the Feds.

They are required to report any suspicious cash deposits.

This is nothing new. They tried this a few years ago in the UK by giving benefits out in coupons. All the fiddlers did was wait outside shops and supermarkets and sell the off for cash for less their value, easy aint it.
What's really going on is the world banks want everybody to be cashless. Definitely NOT to stop money laundering but to control you through the flow of your assets, your money. They hold your money, they can stop you spending anytime. It takes your choice out of your hands.
I wont mention the ultimate goal of profiling you through your transactions.

a reply to: crayzeed

I've heard about shop owners giving people 50 cents on the dollar for food stamps.

originally posted by: sine.nomine
a reply to: anonentity

If you're on welfare, you definitely shouldn't be making cash purchases over 10,000 dollars though.

Thank god for AfterPay !! lolz.

a reply to: lordcomac

Don't get pulled over on your way to buy that dump truck. Anything over $1,000 can legally be seized by the police and held for up to a year while you fight them in court. It's just another way the revenue collectors that masquerade as police fund themselves.

Link

originally posted by: Bluntone22
If either of you withdrew or deposited the 20k cash over three day I can pretty much guarantee one of the banks reported the transaction to the Feds.

They are required to report any suspicious cash deposits.

Not necessarily, it all depends on the banks and how they choose to follow the rules.

First off, not everyone keeps all of their money in the bank. One common thing I see is people depositing half of their paychecks, then taking the rest back as cash. For all you know, many of those people have cash in a vault at home, so there's no need to worry about withdrawing it over a period of time from their bank.

Now, if they are withdrawing it from their accounts, normally anything over $3k gets asked about where the funds are going. Depending on their answers and how often they do these withdrawals will determine if they get reported, or just watched.

As for businesses, if they have a common pattern of large cash deposits, such as a car dealership would have, then there's normally no reporting going on. If they deposit $9k today, $8k tomorrow, then $9.5k the next day then there's a good chance they won't get looked at because, well, they're a car dealership, large amounts of cash is common with them. I would say it also does depends on how long they've been with said bank, and how often they've had CTR's filled out on them. If they never have, then that's a red flag which will cause the back end to feel they're structuring. If they do have regular deposits over $10k and have done the paperwork before, then there's less chance of the dealer being watched because it just seems like business as normal.

Now if it's not bought from a dealership but from a normal person who doesn't normally have large deposits, then you better believe they're being watched.